One of Neglia Conservatory of Ballet’s pre-professional dancers will be heading to an international competition this weekend. WBFO’s senior reporter Eileen Buckley says the ballet student will be part of an 18-day event.

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WBFO’s senior reporter Eileen Buckley says the ballet student will be part of an 18-day event.

Rosalyn Colligan, 40, of Buffalo, was arrested early Sunday and charged with making terroristic threats in connection with Buffalo's Pride festival. She is being held on $100,000 bail and is scheduled to return to court June 8. If convicted on the charge, Colligan faces a maximum of 7 years in prison.

Buffalo Police say it was residents who alerted them to the numerous threats she made on social media, including murder. With quick work, the annual Pride Fest uneventfully went from a long afternoon march down Elmwood Avenue from Buffalo State College and concluded with a massive picnic and party at Canalside into the evening.

Buffalo Bishop Richard Malone ordained four new Catholic priests Saturday morning at St. Joseph Cathedral downtown. The once-a-year ceremony was a festive day for priests before they take on the challenges of their parishes.

Friday is the 17th day of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, an event of daytime fasting from food and water and an evening breaking of the fast with a fig and a full meal. Thursday night, local Islamic groups celebrated the connection of Judaism, Christianity and Islam in the annual Tent of Abraham.

The Artie Awards, which celebrates the Buffalo's theater community and raises money for ECMC's Immunodeficiency Clinic will be held this year on Monday, June 4. The red carpet photography (including a shoe cam!) begins at 7:00 p.m. (when the bar opens) at Shea's 710 Theatre! (You can follow the action live with WBFO on Twitter.) Also note that five days after the Artie Awards it's LATE NIGHT WITH THE CAST, a benefit concert to raise money for Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS, featuring members of the national touring company of Love Never Dies, one night only June 8 at 11:00 p.m. at the Alleyway Theatre’s Main Street Cabaret, 672 Main Street.

Fifty years after his LOVE painting made Robert Indiana a sensation, the artist has died at the age of 89.

Indiana's two-row rendering of the word, with its tilted "O," became one of the most recognizable works of modern art in the world. The famous design emerged from deep influences in Indiana's life, from his early exposure to religion to his father's career.

On Saturday, city homeowners and businesses will open their porches to local bands for Buffalo Porchfest. While the event offers music lovers a wide variety of options, it also serves as a celebration of the symbolic value of the porch. "Porches offer a sense of community," said Newell Nussbaumer of Buffalo Rising during WBFO's Press Pass. The event and the sense of community it inspires, Nussbaumer says, have prompted many homeowners to rebuild their porches and, in a greater sense, restore their city.

When he read Lucas Hnath's "The Christians," Scott Behrend, executive director of Road Less Traveled Productions, knew his company needed to tackle the play. "What drew me to this play was, of course, the central argument, which is, Is there a hell?" With a cast of Dave Hayes, Lisa Vitrano, Aaron Moss, Steve Jakiel and Victoria Perez, "The Christians" runs through May 20.

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Scott Behrend, Lisa Vitrano and Dave Hayes discuss Road Less Traveled's production of "The Christians" with WBFO.

The Tiny Desk online series features music performances shot at NPR in Washington with bands playing in a small space behind a desk. It has featured big names like Buffalo's Ani DiFranco, but is mainly an opportunity for little known musicians to get a following. Musicians compete in an annual contest for a spot in the series, with winners announced Monday. WBFO’s Nick Lippa spoke with Buffalo area artists who are hoping to be among the winners.

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WBFO's Nick Lippa talks to several Buffalo bands who are looking to gain a larger audience through NPR's Tiny Desk Contest

Some local high schoolers are looking for a way to create a common ground during divisive times. Their solution? A student-run social enterprise that supports and develops music and art projects relating to unification.

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4:25

WBFO's Nick Lippa sat down to talk with Rumbler Records and how they plan to achieve their goals.

Today is Holocaust Remembrance Day, when many recall the millions of Jews and others who died at the hands of the Nazis. It has a special meaning for Robbie Hausmann, cellist for the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra. His German great-grandmother, Toni Marcus, was one of the 1.1 million people killed at the Auschwitz concentration camp. And when the BPO toured Poland last month, he visited the camp -- to honor her with music. He spoke about it with WBFO's Nick Lippa.

Living in a rural community can feel detached from the major art scene of urban centers. But in small college towns such as Alfred in Allegany County and Olean in Cattaraugus, area residents can often see top artists that the universities bring in for faculty, students, and the surrounding communities. And that can have a life-long impact on young audiences and aspiring artists. WBFO Arts & Culture Desk producer Scott Sackett recently attended a dance performance at St. Bonaventure University that was a Western New York homecoming for a dancer from the Town of Alfred.

Founded in 1962, Young Audiences of Western New York's mission is to make the arts a part of young people's lives, primarily through work with the schools located throughout the region's eight counties. "If we had to take art out of our schools, I think they would lose an energy and a life that brings kids alive," said Michael Weidrich, the agency's recently-named Executive Director.

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3:48

Michael Weidrich discusses his new role as Executive Director of Young Audiences of Western New York.

The table was filled with round pieces of vinyl, familiar to older generations of music listeners and a mystery to others. Those "45s" are now a major display by the Black Radio History Collective and WUFO-AM 1080.

Western New York is home to more than 20 professional theater companies that are helping to drive the local arts economy. And there’s a ripple effect that can be seen in some area schools. WBFO Arts & Culture Desk producer Scott Sackett visited one school district that is investing heavily in the theater arts. And, as he discovered, the results are dramatic.

Tim O’Shei of the Buffalo News has been traveling around the country visiting Western New Yorkers who’ve had a big impact on pop culture. His latest feature in The Buffalo Connection series – which hit print yesterday – is a profile on University at Buffalo graduate and well-credited Hollywood director James Foley. Foley’s work has seen the extreme ends of acclaim in recent years, but he’s still seeking the thrill of pleasing audiences.

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4:39

Listen to Tim O'Shei's profile of Hollywood director and UB grad James Foley.

The art galleries at the University at Buffalo and the Albright-Knox and have teamed up to mount the first large-scale survey devoted to the works of Tony Conrad. The Buffalo-based artist was a professor of media study at UB from 1976 until his death in 2016. He was also a founder of Squeaky Wheel Film and Media Art Center and a frequent collaborator with Hallwalls Contemporary Arts Center and the Burchfield Penney Art Center. Those organizations are partners in a community-wide exhibition called Introducing Tony Conrad: A Retrospective. WBFO Arts & Culture Desk producer Scott Sackett looks at why this influential artist needs an introduction.

A local theater company is celebrating women’s history month. WBFO’s senior reporter Eileen Buckley says O’Connell and Company has created a special ‘Diva by Diva’ performance to mark the 100th anniversary of Women’s Suffrage in New York.

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3:38

WBFO’s senior reporter Eileen Buckley says O’Connell and Company has created a special ‘Diva by Diva’ performance to mark the 100th anniversary of Women’s Suffrage in New York.

The founder of LehrerDance recently fired by his board of directors is rehearsing for an international tour. As we reported last week, the board terminated Jon Lehrer and shut down the contemporary dance company. WBFO's senior reporter Eileen Buckley caught up with Lehrer 'exclusively' while rehearsing dancers inside the Burchfield Penney Art Center auditorium Wednesday.

Though it doesn't open until August, the reputation of Jamestown's National Comedy Center is spreading throughout the entertainment industry. With the recent donation of the archive of the late Shelley Berman, and the previously-acquired George Carlin archive, the facility is generating interest among fans, comics and scholars.

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4:17

Journey Gunderson, Executive Director of the National Comedy Center, discusses the acquisition of the archive of the late Shelley Berman.

Next month, the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra will be hitting the road, and leaving the country for its first international tour in three decades. The BPO are invited guests to headline concerts in Poland, including Warsaw's prestigious Beethoven Easter Festival.

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3:53

WBFO's Michael Mroziak reports on the Buffalo Philharmonic's preparations for their upcoming tour of Poland, including the challenge of transporting dozens of delicate, expensive instruments.

Jessica Marinelli of Buffalo Rising is effusive in her praise of Torn Space Theater. "If you haven't been there, you should go." On WBFO's Press Pass, Marinelli highlights Torn Space's recent production of "Far Away," and the theater company's home, the historic Adam Mickiewicz Library and Dramatic Circle. "It's a gem on the East Side."